The breakthrough could both help our understanding of the brain and help develop a new generation of bionic limbs that are controlled by the patient's brain in real time with little effort at all.

 

With its hundred billion neurons, the human brain, possibly the most complex object in the known universe, can fully operate our bodies on only 20 W of power. Our measly man-made microprocessors are still decades away from coming close, despite the fact that performance per watt has been increasing exponentially over the years,

Simulating a brain, and a human brain in particular, is a very enticing prospect. It would allow neuroscientists to learn a lot more about how our minds work, and it could have very interesting repercussions in both artificial intelligence and in creating ultra-low power biomedical implants, among other things.